Doctor Who: John Hurt's 50th anniversary role explained?

Doctor Who costume designer, Howard Burden, has explained precisely where John Hurt's role fits in with Who history...

Warning: contains spoilers for The Name of the Doctor and the 50th anniversary special.

It's the answer many were anticipating, though it hasn't arrived necessarily through the channel we expected to hear it. Speaking to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at a Doctor Who studio visit on their annual summer tour of Wales, costume designer Howard Burden described John Hurt's character as a "dark Doctor", going on to explain,

“There was a gap between Paul McGann playing the Doctor and Christopher Eccleston, when we didn’t see a regeneration, and John Hurt will fit into that gap. He is a past Doctor, not a future Doctor.”

That clears up some of the speculation surrounding Hurt's place in the Doctor continuum, including the number one question in our list of mysteries left behind by the series seven finale, The Name of the Doctor.

We've a sneaking feeling though, that there are more surprises in store...